CEI2014-Powerpoint Script

“Food Waste”, that’s a big problem we are facing nowadays, but how many solutions do we have to solve this problem? Continuing with this question we thought, “Where does it all go after we discard our food?”. (Incinerators or landfills)But is that really nice to the earth?

Well, we thought NO, there must be a better option. We found out compost may be a way to solve the problem. And as we go deeper we acknowledge our food cycling system is not complete, so we need to re-link the broken cycle, also connecting the consumers with the producers.

After we re-organize our whole project, our structure core is to combine our COMPOST SYSTEM with FOOD EDU LESSONS.

By the end of November 2013, we came out a draft of our project progress timeline.

Last December, we start by doing great amounts of research on food waste information, by January we begin making compost.

We’ve
been improving our school’s soil quality by covering the “Naked” ground with
compost since February.In
May, we thought we needed more facts, so planned on a Hsin-Chu mobile learning
trip to do more market observations and consumer’s survey.Finally
in June we started the school partnership to let more students know about us
and attend our food education lessons. In the future we’ll setup our edible
garden, and hope to combine with the food forest plan, our school organizing.Like
I said, we started our compost making in January, Now I will show some pictures
of what we went through.

First we gathered all the materials we needed.
The food waste we collect is from our school’s kitchen leftovers every night.

These wood scraps we use to cover up or mix
in with our compost is from a wood-work class in Yilan.

Not only wood scraps, but we also gather
fallen leaves from our school campus. You see, it’s what we gathered in the
orange big bucket.

We mix them all together in the compost bin, we
stir it two times a week.Our friend Vico here seems to discover some worms.At the end of March our compost has turned
into a rich black color, although it hasn’t fully broke down into soil, but
this was a good “Sign”.Look what we found! A new plant sprouted in
the bin.We transplanted it right next to the bin
because we would expand to edible garden in the future, and this is a head
start.Laying dry grass around the plant is one of
the ways to protect it.Now our compost area has expanded, and many
plant species are growing nearby. Our seeds are sprouting fast as the weather
cooperates well.Before, our food scraps
were thrown away with the daily trash that could fill up this whole bag (show
the bag), ever since we started collecting food scraps to make compost, our
food wastage amount has reduced greatly, and all we need now is this little bag
(show the other bag).We received feedback
from our school chef for solving the leftovers problem, and he mentioned
“Although compost can solve the problem of discarded food, consumers are the
real cause behind food waste”. We then noticed that besides reusing the food
waste, we also need to change consumer habits that leads to wasting problems.Well we wanted to see
how society shaped our consumption habits, so we planned a mobile learning trip
to Hsin-Chu that includes market types observations, consumer surveys, and a
visit to CSA.To know more on how different
marketing strategies influence consumption habits, we went to Costco, City
super, Homemakers Co-op and the traditional market. Costco imports bulk sized goods
with cheap prices, but in reality the costs of mechanical production and
distribution are unknown to consumers. City super provides more diverse but
unnecessary overpackaged options, like 3 piece banana packs or mini bags of
rice. At the traditional market, I felt the food was alive and safe to eat, as
consumers can control the amount at affordable prices with easy access to local
produce.After multiple outings, cooking during our
trip changed our consumption habits, and we finally realized the benefits of eating
local and seasonal and hope to influence others.Drawing inspiration from the CSA prototype, we think that schools are also a community, so we want to bring SSCA (School Supported Community Agriculture) to our
school. But we’ll first build our students’ knowledge base with our food education
program, and give them an insight on food wastage issues by using posters and
lessons.To understand the mind of consumers, we came
up with 2 sets of questions. For consumption habits we asked “Which factors
influence your consumption habits? Do you know how our food production system
works?”, and for food wastage we asked “What’s your opinion on food wastage and
shortages? Do you pay attention to food issues?”. We were able to grasp these
common points. Most consumers are still passive and rely on mass media, and
appeal more to well-established brands and fine packaging. Consumer awareness
needs improvement especially on food security towards food sovereignty, because
we’re often deceived by fake reports and don’t realize the severity of food
wastage.To connect the gap between producers and
consumers, we visited Chien-Jia CSA to learn more about the Community Supported
Agriculture prototype. We wanted to know how
they interact with the community, and the methods they used were: applying aborigines’ traditional wisdom,having volunteers
from institutes and schools, hosting children’s after-school-tutoring with
environmental education. When we consulted
their process on improving soil quality, our volunteering activities gave us
answers, which were: raking leaves for compost, and mixing molasses, rice shells and water to cultivate
microorganisms. To bring CSA into our school, we observed their land blueprint and learned
that weeds were left to grow on unused land.Not long ago, we launched lesson 1 of our food
education program named “Food Life”, by starting off with “Our Daily Bread”. Has
anybody heard of this documentary? It’s actually a non-narrative film, and we
used it to introduce students to the modern food system. Potential food wastage
causes were revealed, but in response they proposed positive solutions, such as
redirecting expired goods to food banks. Afterwards, students observed “Hungry
Planet” photos to see different consumption habits from around the world, and figured
out which contributed to a healthier lifestyle.Taiwan as an island country should
avoid polluting limited land with food wastage that could have been composted.
The industrial revolution brought us convenience, but in exchange we sacrificed
ancestral wisdom with environmental health. And since it directly influences our
future development, we must learn to coexist with nature. To turn those thoughts into
actions, we’ll establish a gardening club at school,
involving students’ familiesto continue improving
soil quality with compost. Our upcoming food education programs will interact
with the local community, and we encourage more student participation in
environmental issues, because together as a collective effort we can change the
status quo. To
achieve an enclosed system within our school, we’ll expand our balcony garden to
the food forest area. By doing so, not only are we providing food for ourselves,
we are also converting discarded materials into resources.

This leads us to our conclusion, that by composting
we are reducing waste, and connecting the broken link to the food chain.